A Beautiful Birthday

Hollah!

 

What a wonderful week. It's just been crazy. So hopefully I remember everything I want to tell you about!

 

Matt, our 17 year-old investigator is progressing well. We've decided to not teach him any lessons outside of a member's home (or the Visitors' Center, of course). So we met with him twice this week and things went well! He's so good. We're hoping to take him to the temple openhouse tomorrow.

 

Then we got a new investigator John on Tuesday. He married a member last weekend, and we've been trying to meet with him for a while now, but it finally worked out. We taught him in a member's home, too, and it was perfect. He's so golden! The only thing holding him back is that his wife, who is a convert, but isn't really excited about the church. She just doesn't really care that he's wanting to learn more. Which puts a damper on things. But we keep trying. Maybe in the end he'll convert her. He said yes to baptism. :) He recognizes that God has sent him a lot of hints recently, and he loves the temple already. I'm excited for them to go.

 

Then last Wednesday we finally got trained on the temple openhouse stuff. Elder Walker of the Seventy, the man over the temple board, came and spoke to us. It was amazing to see all 42 of the sisters in the mission in one place all at the same time. Sister Power! It was crazy to see Sister Dodd again. It feels like a lifetime ago that we were companions. I've changed and grown SO much since then. I just feel like an entirely different person. We got our own tour through the temple. It is beautiful. Just absolutely beautiful. I felt like I was home again when I was inside. At one point it was like I could almost feel the long white dress around my ankles. I just am so excited to be able to go back. I think I'm spiritually in a place where there is a lot more I can learn there. I just love the temple so much!!!

 

Then on Friday, Sister Lewis and I acted as substitute travelling preachers. It was pretty cool. A woman in our ward lives in an old person apartment complex. They have "chapel" every Friday and ask preachers in the area to come. Well, around Easter and Christmas everyone is so busy with their own congregations that they can never find anyone to come out. This member of our ward is in charge of scheduling the preachers, so she asked us to come and speak on Good Friday. What an opportunity!!! So Sister Lewis and I gave our sermons. They were really short, (together a total of 15 minutes), but they were powerful, and well recieved. These people were so nice! We got to mingle with them afterwards and talk to them. Hopefully all of them will go to the temple open house. Don't get me wrong, there was only about 15 people there, but it was still a cool opportunity. They loved us. So if this sister invites any of them to meet with missionaries, they won't be afraid because they already know who we are and that we are those "young sweet girls".

 

My sermon was about how "It isn't over". After Christ died and declared, "It is finished," His followers thought that this amazing adventure they had all been on for the last three years was over. Mary Magdalene was heart broken. Thomas wouldn't believe what anyone told him. And Peter returned to fishing, his prior employment. They thought it was over. But then Christ showed himself to Mary to help her stop weeping and showed Himself to doubting Thomas so that he would believe. After the miracle of the fishes, Christ asked Peter if he loved Him "more than these", meaning the fish, his employment. Peter, who had thrice denied the Savior, now had a chance to declare his love for Him three times. Because of that love, his call was now to "Feed my sheep", and continue the work of the Savior. Because it wasn't over, Because Christ rose from the dead, Because He did all that He promised to do, the work goes forward and now it is up to us to make sure the whole world knows about it. The message of Easter is that it isn't over! And we need to live up to it!

I was proud of my first sermon. I learned a lot in writing it. :)

 

Then Saturday was my birthday. The Best Birthday EVER.

So first thing we woke up and went walking. There is a cemetary nearby that opens at sunrise, and for the first time, it opened in time for us to go walking in it. It is really old and really cool. It was fun to find the tombstones that date back to when the saints were here in Independence. It is the coolest cemetary I've ever seen. And the sunrise was beautiful.

 

Then I hurriedly made my own birthday cake. :) It's so fun to back that it was really a gift to see everyone love the pumpkin crumb cake. :) We were on shift at the VC in the morning, so I opened my package there. What a fun package!

 

Then we were on shift at the VC. It was a crazy day because everyone that was going to the temple open house came to the VC, too. We were very busy. We were on our feet for the whole 6 hours. Just when I would finish with one group, I would get another one. So I finished one tour, and then Elder Wells ushered me over to another group. "This is Sister Atkin," he said,"she will be your sister missionary today." It was a young women's group. One of the leaders said, "Sister Atkin? Do you have a brother in Oklahoma?" Come to find out, the group of young women were from the Elm Creek ward in Owasso Oklahoma!!! The odds that I would see them and be their sister missionary are absolutely zero (if we're rounding decimals, anyway). We were all so excited and got a picture together. One of the girl's dad is the ward mission leader, so she sees "Elder Atkin" nearly every day. I took them through the God's Plan for His Family presentation, and cried through the whole thing, thinking about Willie and how much I miss him, and how much this meant to me. One of the leaders gave me a big hug from him (she's never hugged him. She'll just shake his hand firmly). At the end of the presentation I talked about family. I told them how close Willie and I are, and how important temples are for keeping families together forever. I encouraged them all to stay temple worthy to receive those blessings. I just cried. Then I said, "I just have to let you all know that you are part of a miracle today. Today is my birthday. You are my gift from my brother and from God today. So thank you." We all cried. I think that was the best gift I could have ever received for my birthday. They all know Willie! "He doesn't look a thing like you. Tall, red hair." We laughed about what a goof he is. They really like him (the leaders. Don't worry about the young women). :)

I took several amazing tours that day. The spirit was there. I love the Visitors' Center!

 

Then we were off to spend the rest of our day at the opening night of the Temple Openhouse. For the first bit we preset the movie at the beginning (in the stake center), introducing their hosts and the comment cards we hoped they would fill out at the end. That was alright. My feet and back started to get really sore.

 

Then we switched it up and we were in the reception area after the tour. It's in the cultural hall of the stake center. There were cookies and some more displays about the temple. We wandered around and talked to everyone, especially non-members, answering questions. It was wonderful. The first people I talked to were rude (saying that it was all "man made") but everyone else was really kind. Some major seeds were planted in some hearts. I met a nonmember couple that had lived in Logan for a few years. They were the kindest people and I accidentally assumed they were members at first. Someday they will join the church. They have a ton of member friends, and they loved the temple. They had driven from clear out in Kansas to come. I talked to a lot of people who were nonmembers but came because they have family that are members. It was a wonderful night.

 

We didn't get to leave the temple until 10, so we didn't get home until 10:30. It felt so weird! President Keyes said "Just do your best", so we rushed and got to bed fast and planned the next day. What a wonderful, exhuasting day!! Oh, the final miracle was that we had to park a half a mile from the temple, and at 10, walking that far sounded awful. We got a little ways, then a man with a golf cart gave us all a ride back to our car!

 

The next day was Easter. We were still SO tired, but it was a good day. :) We had dinner with the Hatt family. The husband is not a member, but he's the one we set for a date for when he was saved. They fed us some good BBQ. I am definitely excited for that part of summer. YUM. In class today he was asking questions like, "so what if someone was baptized? How would they get the priesthood?" So the bishop ran through some hypothetical situations about a man named "Jason" (that's his first name). He's totally getting baptized.

 

Well, that's pretty much what has happened this week. Life is good. :)

This morning in my studies I learned another cool thing. Hopefully I can make it make sense. I was reading in Alma 41 about the law of restoration. It talks about how we are restored to good if we do good. It is justice (v.3). We are our own judges (v. 7) to do good or evil, because according to justice that will be what is restored to us. If we live in a "state of nature" (v. 11) we are living contrary to the nature of God, and thus the nature of happiness. So where is the atonement in this process? Well, we learn in Mosiah 3:19 that the natural man is an enemy to God, so we have to put off the natural man and become a saint. So we have to change our natures until, as Moroni 7:48 "when he shall appear we4 shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure." So back to the law of restoration. The idea is that in this life our goal is to change our natures. We must change until we are like him. That is how we can justly be restored to him. Isn't that awesome? So the atonement pays for our mistakes, but we must be judged according to who we are. We must change our natures through His grace. Awesome.

Well, I gotta go. I'll try to send pictures, but I'm out of time. I love you!!

Love,

Sister Atkin

 

Temple Preparations Begin!

Dearest Family,

 

General Conference was so good! We got to see all of the sessions. :) We were in the VC for one of the sessions, but it wasn't busy, so they let us watch it until someone came in and wanted a tour. So we got to see the whole thing. :) Overall take away message: be kinder. I haven't been the perfect companion recently (well, probably ever), no matter how hard I try. This was the kick in the pants I needed to keep trying. I did see Frank in the choir. We were all so jealous of the missionaries that got to sing! What an opportunity!

 

Selene is still wonderful. :) She really liked conference. I wish you could be her visiting teacher, too! You would be soo good. I really wish the two of you could be in correspondance, mom. I just love her so much. We haven't gotten to see her much recently. She hasn't connected super well with anyone in the ward, although she likes everyone and they like her. Hopefully we can find a best friend for her. :)

 

As for my week, it was a pretty good one. It was a downer week for numbers because a lot of things happened so we didn't get a lot of time in our area. The Visitors' Center was good. I hope the Tolman's from Young Ward show you the picture they took with me the other day. :) They didn't know I was serving here, and were very shocked to see me when they walked in the door. I haven't been called April out loud for a long time, but I was really glad to see them. It was fun to show the Visitors' Center to them. You'll get to see it someday. :)

 

Did I ever tell you about the amazing part member family we are teaching? Well, we had a wonderful lesson with them this week. We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ (lesson 3) by reading 2 Nephi 31 together. The husband isn't a member, but is really an amazing person. He is very spiritual, and a wonderful father. He was raised Baptist, and has been a substitute preacher in churches before. He's really been a spiritual leader. They come to church regularly, and he says that he agrees with 80-90% of everything he hears. So we're working through the kinks, and it is going great! We asked him to pray about April 28th as a baptismal date. He readily agreed, and then chuckled a little bit. "You are going to think this is funny, but that is the day I was saved when I was younger." His wife got very excited. "It's a sign!" she said, "You'll get baptized on that date, and then we'll get sealed April 28th 2013! Oooh, is the Paris Temple going to be done by then? We could get sealed in Paris!" So basically she's planning out their future now. She's very excited. He laughed and said he would pray about it, but maybe they should aim for a closer temple like the Kansas City Temple, and they could travel to Paris later. hahaha! He's so getting baptized. I just love them so much! I know this will bless their family. They have two adorable daughters. One is 4 (I think) with adorable pig-tails and big eyes. The other is 8 months and adorable, too. I'm so excited for them to be sealed. :) I hope I get to go.

 

Matt, the 17 year old, is doing well, too. We've started involving the priests in teaching him. They love it, their moms love it, the young men leaders love it, and it is good for Matt, too. We're hopefully teaching him at an FHE tonight.

 

We went on exchanges this week and it was fun. I really like Sister Minall. She's one of my best friends out here. She's 25 and converted when she was 20 in DC (that's where she's from). I just love her! Anyway, so we had a fun day together. We taught the first lesson to one of their investigators. Last last Sunday, he just showed up at church saying that he used to drop off his friends there, so he decided to come. That's how they found him. So he liked the first lesson, and we invited him to be baptized. He said yes and set a date and everything! He said that he met with elders in '83 and really liked them. He wanted to join the church back then, but then he didn't know what happened to them. So he decided to go back to the church where he had dropped them off before. Crazy! He wanted to join the church nearly 30 years ago! Since then he's kicked a drinking problem, so he's even more ready. He watched all sessions of general conference and came to a baptism. What a cool old guy. And he brought us a bag of gifts--deoderant, anti-wrinkle cream, sparkling water, a hat for a doll and a map of France. He's good. :)

 

On last Friday we had a ward party--a Temple Celebration. It was really well put together. We were glad to see less actives and partmember families come. It was so fun!

 

Then on Saturday was General Conference. It was a wonderful day! Our best friends, Sister Sawyer and Sister Minall had a baptism of a 19 year-old young man. His name is Branden, and he's amazing. Sister Minall really was sent here specifically for him. A lot of his conversion has happened at the Visitors' Center, so all of the sisters are friends with him. So we all got to go and be a part of his day. I played the piano (I play a lot out here, by the way). It was so wondeful! He will go on a mission. I'm sure of it. He's a cool football player kid, and he's really giving up a lot to join the church, but it's right, so there you go. One of his music heroes is a member of the ward, so Alo Key got to baptize him and sang a beautiful musical number with Sister Sawyer as a surprise. It was a beautiful day. baptisms always are.

 

General Conference was good. I especially liked Jeffry R. Holland (I always do. He's my favorite. :) ) and Richard G. Scott. Did you see David F. Evans? He was the one that came here to speak to us about Alma 17-42.

 

So it has been a good week. I really feel like a mission is the best of times and the worst of times. It's the best thing ever. I love it. We get to see miracles every day. We are on the front lines of the battle, so we get to see the work going forward. But it means we also get to feel the brunt of the attack of Satan. His firey darts are relentless. This week has been rough keeping his lies away. I feel like all of my weaknesses are magnified out here. So I have to constantly remind myself that I am not alone out here, and that the Lord gives us weaknesses that we may be humble. And if we bring those weaknesses to Him and allow Him to help us, His grace is sufficient to turn those weaknesses to strengths. It is all through His grace. My mission is really forcing me to rely on His grace. Sometimes I feel like I am full of weaknesses, full of holes, and His grace is the scaffolding that is keeping me standing and moving foward. I just need to rely on Him to help me be better. I have to have the humility to accept His help.

 

So life is good. :) This week begins the Temple Openhouse madness and I am so excited. The first night, April 7th, is the first shift we have there. My birthday gift from heaven. :)

 

We aren't going to be getting much sleep. The morning shift starts at 7:15, and the night shift ends at 9:45. And it is a half-an-hour away. So, yeah.

 

Know that I love you all very much, and I hope you have a wonderful week. Thank you for your prayers. I have felt them helping me. Know that I'm praying for you, too. :)

Love,

Sister April Atkin

 

Crayons from Heaven

Hey. :)

 

It's been another good week! I've attached a few pictures I think you will really enjoy. When Sister Lewis and I were in a really ghetto part of our area the other day, we saw this stop sign and HAD to take a picture. If you struggle reading spray paint it says, "STOP snitchin" (translation--stop tattling. Probably to the cops.) haha! I thought it was pretty great. Also, that is a picture of the Visitors' Center in the spring. I love tulips and daffodils!

 

That is so neat about being set apart! I love the idea you have about recognizing the dignity of the calling. It's crazy to realize what a privilege it is to serve in a calling. Really, we can't downplay the calling. Sometimes it is hard for me to grasp that I am a representative of Jesus Christ. Sometimes it would be easy to downplay or disbelieve the importance of my calling, but really I should understand that it is big and strive to live up to it. I love being a missionary. :) SOO much. :)

 

As for my week, it's been a good one. Last Tuesday we got anti'ed again at the VC, but it is alright. I'm learning good tactics to deal with it. One of those is to just bear your testimony. They can logically disprove everything about the gospel, but they can't take away the spiritual experiences we've had. Most of them won't outright tell you that you are lying about having an experience, and if they do, what do they gain? Nothing. Because I know those things have happened, I know that God knows it, and I cannot deny it. Just like Joseph Smith.

 

Oh, and I read the book of Acts in basically one day. It's amazing! I feel jipped that I didn't grow up learning those Bible stories! They are so exciting! I felt like I was reading the Odyssey (spelling?) or something. Man, Paul did some really funny stuff and some really cool stuff. Now I'm in Romans, which is much slower reading. Some of it is harder to understand, but I still like it.

 

Oh, and Sister Lewis and I have started running/walking every morning. I love it. :) It feels good. And you know what? The air really is different here. I can really tell the air is not dry and that we are at lower elevation. It's pretty obvious when I run. When we were running, a truck's muffler fell off on the road in front of us. So we got to do a good turn. We picked up the hot muffler and gave it to a very grateful man (we waved him down).

 

Sister Lewis finally passed off all of her lessons, so she's driving now. It's important to have her learn her way around the area, so she drives all of the time now. It's weird to think that I might be transferred for the first time in a couple of weeks. The likelihood is that I will stay, but you never know. We'll just have to see.

 

Okay. Yesterday was the day this week that was exciting. We invited everyone to church, and we were hoping for a few of them to come. When church started, we didn't see any of them. But come to find out, we had 7 investigators at church! Kesha and her 4 kids, a part member family, and Matt, the 17 year-old we are teaching! That is definitely a new record. And we are going to keep getting it! That wasn't even counting another man that came to church that we aren't teaching, and another nonmember I can't think of right now. Anyway, it was a great Sunday.

 

So you are now wondering, how did church go? Was it as good as last time Kesha's whole family came? Well, I'm here to say, miracles happen. See, when we left the apartment we didn't think Kesha was coming (well, we were almost positive, because she only comes if she can get a ride with a member). But something told me to pack crayons and paper anyway. After the sacrement was passed I turned around and there she was! Without even talking to us, some members picked them up and brought them to church!! So we went and sat by them, and the crayons worked miracles. Not only were we not going crazy, Kesha actually got to hear some of the testimonies! She mentioned that she was happy about getting to actually hear some of it because her kids were quiet. Man, those crayons were the best thing that has ever happened to church. Somehow I just knew I would need them when I packed my luggage to go to the MTC. Who knew it would lead to a good church experience. The Lord works in mysterious ways--even through crayons. :)

 

Last night a group came in from BYU. They were in the Landscape Management major, so they all knew Jessica Briscoe. That was fun. They were such a fun and respectful group! The spirit was so strong. I was very impressed. It made me happy to be associated with the same school as them. I know that they represented the church well at their competition in the way they acted. I just loved them! It really was a needed boost. What wonderful people. I love working at the Visitors' Center!

 

This week is going to be a good one! I'm looking forward to General Conference SO much. And our ward is doing some good activities. And some of the sisters (my best sister friends, Sister Hannah Minall and Sister Rachel Sawyer) are having a baptism this Saturday. The VC was a big part of his conversion, so he's having a lot of the sisters participate. He's 19, and he's going to serve a mission. :) What a good kid.

 

Well, I better go, but I love all of you SO much. I've been blessed with a wonderful family!

 

Love,

Sister April Atkin

Springtime in Missouri

Hey All!

So it's bee a great week. :)

 

Last Tuesday was the mission tour. We got to hear from David F. Evans of the seventy. He was really amazing.

 

First of all, at the conference it was announced that we all get to sing at the cultural event the night before the temple dedication!! I'm SO excited!!!!!!! We're singing the Bring the World His Truth song. :)

 

They also gave all of us little temple pins to wear as a conversation piece until the dedication. They are gift from Sister Keyes, the mission president's wife. I love it. What a treasure.

 

Then the zone conference was AMAZING. He spent a long time on Alma 29:1-4. Then he spent three hours talking about Desire. Really, God gives us what we desire. the trick is to align our will or our desires with Heaven, and then miracles happen. what do we really desire? It shows in what we do. So if we really desire baptisms as a missionary, we will do the things that lead to baptisms. Whatever that is. The second part he talked about finding, and that really the only good way to find is through referrals. He talked about how we could get more of those.

 

It was such an amazing day! We were there 8-3 with a lunch break, and it felt like a half an hour. It was a spiritual feast. I left feeling very spiritually satisfied. I learned so many things from the spirit. I have a huge list of things to work on and try out and I'm excited about it! The way we align our will with heaven really is through prayer. I can see some specific ways I can improve my prayers. what an amazing day. :)

 

We also had a good week in that we got some new very promising investigators. one is a 17 year old boy that just really loves religion. He loves the bible and he loves reading bible stories. So we just have to convince him to put down his current book and pick up the Book of Mormon. He'll like it. :) He was going to come to church on sunday, but then something happened, and he didn't. He'll come next week, though.

 

We also got a referral for a woman named Courtney. She has member friends that she loves, and really, she looks and acts and glows like a member already. She's read through Jacob. She's met with missionaries before, and had lessons 1 and 2. She just moved back home to her parents until she gets a job as a PA. She's amazing. really, she's going to be baptized. It might take time, but she will. She's going to be out of town for 6 weeks coming up, which is frustrating, but we'll work with what we have.

 

We also had two amazing lessons with part member families this week. One of them is also very amazing. The husband is even speaking in the "when we go to the temple" terms. He'll get there. ;) Also might take a little time, but he's amazing. They come to church most weeks, and he has a beautiful quad.

 

Kesha didn't come back to church this week, probably because she didn't have a great experience last week. We just need to figure out a way to help her feel like she fits in. Our ward is just so NOT ghetto, and she is very ghetto. We'll figure it out.

 

I learned something cool this week. Well, I was sitting in sunday school, and I was feeling discouraged. I couldn't figure out why because everything external was going really well. Selene is doing better this week, and we have some good lessons and some great investigators.

 

And then I figured it out. Satan has been trying to lie to me! He's been telling me that I have this huge list of things I have to work on, and that I can't be a good missionary until I get them straightened out. So it's true that I do have a lot of things to work on (I am so painfully imperfect!), but I can be a good missionary now! I'm working hard and giving it my all, and that is what matters. He tries to tell me that I'm not doing my best, but I am! It's a step by step process of growth. I can't be perfect in a day. In the mean time, I'm going to be an amazing missionary. Because this is the Lord's work, and He will provide a way. Sometimes it is hard to see the lies that satan is telling us, mostly because they are covered by something that is true. But then if you dig deeper, you can discover where the lie is and not be fooled. Discouragement is not from God EVER. So take that satan! I can see through your lies!

 

It is beginning to be spring out here. Tulips and daffodils are my favorite flowers, and the daffodils are out. :) Yay! It's getting more humid, which is interesting, but it's okay so far. we'll see.

I love you all!

 

~Sister April Atkin

Another Week in the Life of a Sister Missionary

Hey Family!

How'sit goin'. It's going pretty "fly", as Willie would say, out here in Missouri. It is a beautiful spring day. The sun is out, there is a slight breeze, it's warm, the birds are singing--all around beautiful. Dad, you will be interested to know that I saw my first cardinal the other day. They really are really red. Hm. who knew.

First of all, I want to tell you about what happened last monday after I emailed. We went to take a tour of the Community of Christ Temple. The elders are teaching a guy that is a member of their church and works there. He is going to be a tour guide soon, so they let him take us on a tour (they probably don't know he's meeting with missionaries). So, we went over to the building. It's actually pretty cool inside. The emphasis of their religion seems to be acceptance for everyone and making it a worldwide faith. It felt like a well-run business or maybe an nonprofit NGO or something.

Anyway, so this guy started the tour. He offered to take us into the break room which is not a normal part of the tour. It sounded pretty boring to me, but one of the elders that were with us wanted to see everything. So he took us back there saying it wasn't a big deal. We got back there, and sure enough, it was just a normal looking break room. Nothing too exciting.

And then walked in some fairly normal looking people. Our tour guide suddenly looked shocked. Turns out it was three of their apostles. One of them was the president of the twelve. They were very friendly, and shook all of our hands. They asked where we were from and all sorts of stuff. They knew who we were--name tags.

Then one of them (a woman. Susan Skoore? something like that), offered to take us upstairs to see the offices of the twelve. That is not a normal part of the tour. We accepted. :) So she took us upstairs where we saw all of their offices, their conference room where the 12 meet, their secaretary, all that. We met a member of the first presidency up there. Then she took us to her office, where she told us more about what she does. She is in charge of Canada, the west coast, and French Polynesia. She did a little ceremony from French Polynesia where she gave each of us a shell necklace and a kiss on the cheek (an air kiss. You know. Cheek to cheek air kiss). I don't remember the word she said when she did it, but it was pretty cool. One of the elders let her do it, but the other one didn't. It was hilarious. She then told us that some of the shells were pretty valuable. I admit, I was pretty in shock and thinking of how this would never happen in Salt Lake. So that's a souvineer to take home--a shell necklace from a woman apostle in the Community of Christ. She was very nice--they all were--but there was no feeling of a mantle on her, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, then we continued on our tour, including seeing the cool organ that fills the central spiral part. I'm sorry. I forgot my camera, so you'll get pictures next week. The rest of the building was pretty cool. They have a little museum/gift shop that was pretty cool. They had some original stuff from the area that I could really appreciate. We noticed that all of the accounts of the first vision only said that Jesus Christ appeared, and that all of the stuff about Joseph Smith said that "he claimed" to have translated by "what he called 'the power and authority of God'," implying that it might/probably isn't all true. It was strange. Also I found out that all of the presidents of their church have been Joseph Smith's decendents until the latest one. I think he's the one that has changed everything.

Anyway, it was a very interesting experience. Our tour guide got in a ton of trouble for taking us into the break room. I guess it's the back entrance that the apostles use to avoid the public, and he kind of missed that point. But the apostle was the one that decided to show us everything, so he still has a job. He just won't be taking tours for a while. And I bet he eventually gets baptized.

We all left kind of in shock and had a good laugh about it later. My mission is in a really interesting place, it turns out.

That night we went and visited Lyric. It was sooo good to see her again. I still don't know how to help her, but she'll let us keep coming back. She just doesn't have the desire to act on anything. So I don't know what to do about that.

This week we also met a woman named Kesha. (I think her real name is Laquisha, but who knows how she spells that) She's a single mom in her 30s who has no job and is going to be homeless soon. She has four kids. They are black, of course, and I don't remember all of their names, but the twins are Unique and Malique (girl, boy). Anyway, we just met her and taught an awesome first lesson on her porch. She cried. It was amazing. So we've been in contact with her a lot recently. Her kids love us. I don't think they have really been around white people before. One of the girls is obsessed with Sister Lewis' hair (blonde). She just pets it and pets it, and even said good bye to it when we left.

We invited all of them to church on sunday, and when the ride we had set up for them got to the meeting place, they weren't there. So we thought we had lost them. But they showed up so that they and their ride got there for the sacrement hymn! They were all in jeans, but there you go. They came.

Sacrement meeting felt like it lasted eternity. We sure were glad that we were sitting on the back row. Those kids don't know how to sit still or be quiet. They talked through the whole meeting. They were eating their trail mix and chatting up a storm. Unique sat by me and kept playing with my hair. "It's so long!" she said, "It's so long! Did it grow jus' now? when I was playin' with it? You should braid it. Or one of these strings will fall out and float away and you'll be sad. Here, let me braid it. Has it been this way your whole life? I bet when you were little everyone played with your hair. Did they? I bet they did. It's so slippery. You should braid it. I braid my hair tight, but I don't want to braid your hair tight because then you'll be like, "that chick braided my hair all bad". It is so long. My hair will be like yours when I grow up. Can I braid it?" It was like that through the whole meeting no matter how I begged her to be quiet. She even complained about the babies being loud, and I told her she was loud, so she told me I was mean. She kept talking.

Then we took them to split them up into primary classes. They were running around the chapel. I was very firm. "We are quiet and reverant at church because it shows Jesus we love Him." Unique said, "sorry Jesus!" to the sky. And kept talking.

The twins went together to Primary. Malique is very very very bad. He has ADHD and is autistic. So within five minutes of Gospel Principles the primary teacher (a bald man) marched him into our class by his elbow and said he could learn in our class. I hope our ward doesn't hate us. Kesha smelled a lot like smoke. We were talking about the life of Christ, which she liked. She pointed at the picture of Christ calming the seas and said, "I like that one. They are all freaking out, and Jesus held up his hand and told the the red sea to stop splitting and it was like 'whoosh!' and it went back together." So that was a fun class. Malique sat still playing with a chocolate bar someone gave him. miracle.

Then we went to Relief Society. A man offered to take Malique to Priesthood, which we were grateful for. We took Kesha to Relief Society. At the beginning they needed volunteers to help with dinners and stuff. She volunteered for everything. They just ignored her. Then they needed someone in nursery. She paused, no one volunteered, so she did, "I love babees!" she said. Another woman stood up very quickly and said, "I'll go. My son is in there." She was obviously being protective.

Relief Society was on the priesthood. No one even tried to explain what it is. Kesha just zoned out the whole time. thank goodness.

When church ended, we said goodbye to all the girls, restole Sister Lewis' name tag, took away a random pair of glasses from Malique, and smiled real big. Whew. Church is tiring. And missing an hour of sleep for daylight savings didn't help. But it was still a good day. They came. :)

So we will have to find a way to make next week a better experience, and somehow train our ward to accept the ghettos a little more.

Selene is still having a rough time, so keep praying for her! The journal sounds great, mom. Her kids are older, and I don't know how soon they will join, but we'll pray.

My watch broke (the pin holding the band to the watch part) so I safety pinned it. I will buy a new one because a Sister Leader told me it didn't look professional. Fair enough.

Anyway, I'm out of time, but I love you!

Love,

Sister April Atkin

Highs and Lows

Dearest Family,

I forgot to tell you last week, but my P-day was changed. It will be on Mondays for at least the next six weeks. Which kinda stinks because I didn't give you the time to email me this week. That's alright. It's my fault, so don't feel bad.

This week has been another roller coaster. Some highs and some lows. Which do you want first? Well, I'll give you brief lows and then some highs. How does that sound?

First of all, we had two rough lessons in one morning. Both were people who are so afraid of being decieved that they will not rely on feelings ("the metaphysical") to learn truth at all. They want to logic and argue through it. They don't relize that that is indeed Satan decieving them. So basically they are all resisting the Holy Ghost, which make my job pretty much impossible. One of the people we are--were--teaching got ahold of a book that was basically antimormon literature written by a mormon. It's called An Insider's View of Joseph Smith or Mormonism or something. All I know is that the author "debunks" (note the quotations) the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. He says that pretty much all of that is a bunch of bologna, but the sense of community and the social aspect of the church is nice, so he's kept his faith. So join our church because it is fun! Well, that is a bunch of bologna. And this investigator was basing all of her research on the church on that book. She hasn't even made an effort to read the Book of Mormon, which from any point of view should be part of her research into our church.

Sister Lewis and I have been talking a lot about how to help these people, but we're hitting a brick wall. We can't teach without the spirit, so if they won't recieve it, they won't recieve us, no matter what we say.

The one thing we will say is that there is no way for this church to just be "nice" or to have the Book of Mormon, while being factually incorrect, being partly "good". See here is the thing. Joseph Smith claimed to have seen God. So that leaves us with two options: either he did, or he is a horrible, evil, lying man. Because that would be a horrible, evil thing to say if it wasn't true. That claim has led to the deaths of many people and impacted millions. So that puts the Book of Mormon in the same light. Either it is scripture, or it was written by a horrible to man to do evil things. We really have to face that. There are no other options. Is it good? Does it invite us to Christ? Then it must be true. But they won't even crack it open.

Anyway, that was a rough day. Not to mention that the member with us kind of took over the lesson...but that's alright. I'm glad they came anyway.

The other guy we taught basically told us he doesn't trust any authority. He loves the bible, but he doesn't even trust that because everyone reads it so differently. All he trusts is the Creation, the 10 commandments, and the words of Christ. He thinks if he keeps it to just those -- not praying even to ask for more--he won't be decieved. So he dropped us.

Happy stuff. Last Tuesday night was a huge high of a day. :) We were able to see an investigator that we thought was avoiding us, and had a good lesson! She misses us and can see the goodness in us. She enjoys the light we bring into her home, and she really wants to come to church. Now we just need to get her to see that she can have that light in herself. Sometimes it is hard to get people to believe they can change their lives. So we need her to really want it. She's awesome.

And then we showed up to get her to church. She told us to make her go. So we pounded on the front and back doors several times, and Sister Lewis may or may not have actually checked to see if the door was locked. We heard a voice inside, but no one let us in. Later, we got ahold of her daughter who said her mom was still sleeping, and just wanted to sleep. I think we need to have two plans of attack: 1) teach her the Word of Wisdom so that she will be available Sunday mornings and 2) Be in contact with her Saturday night (being at the VC makes that difficult, so maybe a morning drop by and a night phone call). It's gonna happen.

We also got two new investigators this week that are super solid. One is the husband of a member. He's met with missionaries before, but he "scared them off", he said. He comes to church every week, so we thought it was time he took the lessons again. The other is the fiance of a member. They are both really nice men who have real desire to learn about the church. Sister Lewis and I are excited. :)

Selene has now been baptized for a whole week, and it is been a really rough week. She is already hitting the refiner's fire. So please pray for her! Mom, maybe you could put her name in the temple. I can't do that, but you could (is it allowed for me to say that? I don't know). Her name is Selene Kaye. She needs strength to keep it up. She's amazing!

As far as everything else goes, it is an exciting time for the area! The temple is getting closer and closer. Yesterday fast and testimony meeting was entirely about the temple. Everyone is talking about it. All of the youth are practicing for the cultural event and are SO excited. The ward got to send some people to help assemble the chandeliers. It's neat because the people that were selected were all of the people that needed the strength from the time they spent in the temple putting them together. Selene went, some less actives, and some people who were struggling with one thing or another. I know it strengthened all of them. They got to spend a few hours in a sealing room and the celestial room. They said that each crystal was worth $50-$100, and there was hundreds of them in each chandelier. I can't imagine. I'm so excited to see everything. All of our members are talking about their friends suddenly having interest in the church, and everyone we have talked to is SO excited for the website to be open on March 12th for tickets. It's madness. It sounds like I will get to do 2 days in helping with the open house. Best thing ever. :)

I took a really good tour ("presentation") the other day. It was a woman and a man that were dating. In so many ways it reminds me of the way that everything began with Selene. Except that this man was visiting from California. They met online and have only met in person 3 times now. She is a member, and he is not. She said the first time they met she felt impressed to share her testimony. She really believes that the reason (insert here--I just recieved your email! Yay!)

that they met was so that she could share the gospel with him. I really believe her. He is a really special person and I'm almost positive that he will be baptized. So I had a wonderful time showing them around the VC. They came back last night, so it was fun to see them again. I hope he has good elders in California. He is really searching for truth.

You know, I have been thinking about how cool a mission is recently. It means the world to me! This has been so hard. And so wonderful. I've changed a lot out here. So thank you so much for supporting me! Thanks for giving me a body and life and a wonderful childhood and the gospel and a happy home and a way to go on a mission. thank you. I feel like I am accomplishing part of my life's purpose out here. I'm being/becoming the person I'm supposed to be. So thank you.

This week I learned a lot about how to be a missionary from Alma 17-42. Some cool stuff is in there. We have a general authority coming next week to talk to us about it. I'm excited to hear what he has to say. I'm also reading the New Testament, which is amazing. Something I learned: Luke 10:17-18 (and 19 I guess). The seventy are sent out to preach the gospel. They come back, amazed at the power they have over devils in Christ's name. Then He tells them, well, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." So basically, yes, we have power over devils because ultimately, I have power over satan. If Satan could be cast out of heaven, so could all of these devils. Cool. I don't know if that is important to our salvation, but interesting. Christ has all power over Satan. He's gonna win. We just have to be on the right side of the battle!

The other thing, is that the Book of Mormon is so true. I just know that these people are real people! I can hear their voices from the dust, and I can see them going through what they went through. I can see that some of them had favorite subjects to talk about, personalities, flaws, excitements, disappointments--they were real people. I can basically see Alma whipping himself around when he hears the people who are actually prepared for the gospel (Alma 32. v. 6 in particular). Can you see it? He's preachin' the gospel, basically soap boxing it. There's this croud. Then he hears a guy behind him yell, (hands cupped around his mouth) "Hey! You! What are we gonna do? We can't worship in our churches!!" And Alma hears it, and just does a 180 to see who's yellin'. And sees the prepared people. Super happy missionary.

Well, I gotta go, but I love you! I know I am where I need to be. :)

~Sister April Atkin

 

Sunshine in my Soul

Dearest Family,

What a wonderful week it has been! A roller coaster as always (that is mission life), but some of the highest highs of my mission thus far.

So I told you last week that Selene was going to be baptized this Saturday. Well, it happened, but I have a few stories to tell you about how all that went down.

So first of all, this Saturday was the day that we were supposed to have a meeting to check up on how training was going with Sister Lewis. The meeting was at 10, but we decided that a baptism probably could win out, so we scheduled the baptism for 9am (she wanted a morning baptism) knowing that it would make us late to our meeting. So we called the APs and left a message asking for permission to be late to the meeting please call us back.

Well, Elder Poulson called us back. This is how the conversation went:
"Hi, this is Sister Atkin"

"Hi Sister Atkin, this is Elder Poulson. How was your day?" (insert small talk here)

"Well, we got your message. We've talked about it and we have decided that this meeting is more important than your baptism."

*3 seconds of dead silence* I was having an internal war. I waiting for him to say just kidding, but he didn't. I wanted this baptism more than almost anything. Selene's baptism means everything to me. Not only is it my first baptism, it is Selene, who I strongly believe is the major reason I am serving in Lee's Summit right now. She was prepared specifically for me to teach. All of the stress of the day had built into a headache, and I was so tired. I felt like I aged 5 years in those 3 seconds.

"Okay." That was all I could say. Ultimate submission. God, here is everything. You can have it. I will do what I am told to do, even if it breaks my heart. I felt like my insides were torn in half. I held my external self together. barely.

"You were quiet for a minute there, Sister Atkin."

"Um. Yeah."

"You can go to your baptism." (said blandly, continuing the conversation) "How long would it take to drive from there to the mission home? Could you be there by 10:30? ..."

*2 minutes of logistics conversation*

I hung up, walked back into the guide's room (our break room at the VC), sat down on the couch, and exhaled. Sister Lewis was like, "What? Are we good?"

So I told her calmly what had just happened. Well, it started out calmly anyway. Then I got shakey. Then the tears started building up. Then I was basically sobbing.

It was like when it turned out to be just a badly timed joke, I could actually register what had just almost happened. I was entirely in control until it was over.

In that moment I felt a small teensy tiny part of what Abraham must have felt in being told to sacrifice his son -- except that wasn't a joke. All of the promises of his whole life (of my whole, although admittedly short mission) were build into this one son. Crazy. I guess that the baptism would have gone on without me, and that was the one thought I did have while I still thought I couldn't go. That Selene still would be baptized and that was what mattered.

It also kind of proved to myself what I am willing to do for the Lord. It shocked me. This baptism meant more than the world to me. I love Selene SO much. It would have killed me to not go. But somehow in the moment of trial I was willing to give it up to be obedient. Wow. I didn't even argue? That's shocking. I really must be changing out here.

Then the baptism came. It was Saturday--the day. (don't be fooled. A lot more frantic phone calls to organize a baptism that quickly were made). But the day came.

It was beautiful, and bright, and warm. It felt like spring. And we were both glowing as we drove down to the church. We put in Consider the Lillies, which has become my sacred/happy CD. The world was perfect.

Selene came and she was SO excited and happy. We showed her where the white jump suits are, and she changed into one and put on cute, little, white flats to wear until she went into the water. She was beautiful. (pictures attached. The man is Orson, her boyfriend.) Some missionaries brought an investigator and Selene's two sons, daughter-in-law, and grandson all came. It was a good turn out.

The program started and was so perfect. The lady that gave the talk (Sister Reynolds, an amazing ward missionary) was so inspired. The spirit was strong.

Then time for the baptism. Sister Lewis and I got to stand at the top of the stairs of the font holding the towel for her to use when she came up. Best view ever. And she did it!

When she walked up the stairs, we just all cried. And cried. Selene was crying. She was just so happy that it was able to happen. This is what she has been looking for her whole life. It's like she finally made it home. We just cried together.

Then we had to rush back into the room to entertain everyone else while she cleaned up. A ward member told us that in the past the sisters have shown the Special Witnesses DVD in the inbetween time and recommended that we did the same. We thought, why not? So we set it up. Then she told us, right before the baptism, that the sisters had actually just shown their favorite two testimonies from the DVD. (If you haven't seen it, it is the testimonies of the prophet and apostles) Well, it was too late for that because we had never seen it. So decided to just show the first two--Gordon B. Hinckley and Neal A. Maxwell.

Well, it started. And it wasn't what we had expected at all. Gordon B. Hinckley's said, "Oh, Jerusalem, Oh, Jerusalem, Thow who killest the Prophets!' or something like that. There was thunder and lightning. It was pretty dark, and not very happy for a baptism. We sat there watching it wondering if it would be more embarrassing to let it go or to stop it. Selene's nonmember family members were there, and there was an investigator there. We just let it go. The next testimony was about the Abrahamic Covenant and there being other worlds with people on them. Deep doctrine. At this point, Sister Lewis and I were silently shaking with laughter and mortification. We just couldn't wait for it to end. I think it was roughly 7 minutes of torture.

Finally, it ended and Selene came back. We shared our testimonies, and it was basically over. Everyone wrote Selene notes of love and encouragement and left. It was definitely a memorable and amazing day. You know, I think it wouldn't have been perfect if it hadn't had the small part that went wrong. It just completed the day.

We ran off and made it to our meeting only 20 minutes late. Everyone said that when we came in, we were glowing. I was just so happy.

Then on Sunday Selene got confirmed. I made it through the confirmation alright (even though the bishop was totally inspired and talked about things he had no clue about), but when the sacrement came, we were all a wreck. Selene hasn't taken the Sacrement yet, even though we don't tell anyone to not take it. She wanted to wait until she was baptized. So when she took it for the first time, we all fell apart. Good thing I packed tissues. It was so amazing! Like I've said like a million times, I just love her (and Orson, too). :)

After the meeting a High Counselman came and talked to us. He said it was hilarious to watch us. We were alternately beaming or balling. But he was happy for us and that we realized what a big deal it was for a person to be baptized.

So she did it! We made it! And although most of the rest of our investigators are avoiding us now, Selene did it. And she's on her way to getting her patriarchal blessing and a calling and a temple recommend. :) Yay!!

I don't have time to tell you the rest of the little stories that happened this week, like teaching a lady with Alzhiemers and cleaning a cat ladies house (my skirt was a hairball by the time we left), but know it was a good week. Sister Lewis and I have been hitting it off recently. It's like we finally figured each other out and it is making a big difference. I got her to relax enough to be a real person, and now I would say we are friends. She used to be so worried about being perfect that I couldn't connect with her. Now we joke around and tease each other, which is actually important for us to be able to work in unity and communicate with each other. It's been good. :)

This week what I've been studying has been the priesthood and it has blown my mind. I thought it was a simple topic but it turns out I am crazy. I studied Hebrews 1-10 (reading out loud helped) along side D&C 84 and I think I will tackle Alma 13 next. I'm trying to piece them all together. And I realized, I'm not sure what the Oath part of the oath and covenant is. And maybe I don't even know what the covenant is. Hebrews is mostly what has blown my mind. It's pretty cool stuff. The reason is we have an investigator that loves Hebrews, so I had to know what was in there. Turns out I really wonder what he thinks of it. Have you ever heard of the "priesthood of believers"? It's a phrase that came up the other day, but only touched on. I'm really curious what that misconception is.

Anyway, I gotta go, but I love you all! I am very happy--probably the happiest I've ever been on my mission. :D

Have a wonderful day!

Love,

Sister April Atkin